Guillermo Lasso

Leftist lawyer leads as violence-hit Ecuador heads to run-off poll

Leftist frontrunner Luisa Gonzalez looked set to take on a surprise candidate, the youthful son of one of Ecuador's richest men, in a run-off election in October, official results showed Sunday.

Gonzalez, a lawyer close to divisive former socialist president Rafael Correa, was leading with 33 percent of the vote, as 80 percent of the vote was counted.

Running mate of slain Ecuadoran candidate to run for president

The running mate of slain Ecuadoran candidate Fernando Villavicencio will run for president in his place in August 20 elections, their party said Saturday.

"The movement will replace the presidential ticket by putting Andrea Gonzalez as president," the centrist Construye party said in a statement.

A Presidential Candidate of Ecuador was Murdered at a Meeting with Voters

Ecuador's presidential candidate was killed during a campaign rally.

Fernando Villavicencio, who is also a former lawmaker, was shot dead in the capital, Quito. His Movimiento Construye party said on Twitter that gunmen attacked its offices in the capital, Quito.

President Guillermo Lasso vowed that the act would not go unpunished.

From highlands to the coast, quake damages Ecuador, Peru

Juan Vera lost three relatives when a strong earthquake that shook parts of Ecuador and Peru on Saturday brought down his niece's home. The government has offered to pay for the woman's funeral and those of her baby and her partner, but Vera wonders why local authorities allowed his relatives to live in such an old home to begin with.

Five die in Ecuador blast officials blame on crime gangs

Five people died and 16 were injured in an explosion Sunday in the Ecuadoran port city of Guayaquil in an attack the government blamed on organized crime, officials said.

President Guillermo Lasso declared a state of emergency in the country's second largest city of Guayaquil, where eight houses and two cars were destroyed in the blast.

Ecuador declares state of emergency in three provinces over drug violence

Ecuadoran President Guillermo Lasso announced on April 29 he had decreed a state of emergency for two months in three provinces with the highest registered levels of violence due to drug trafficking.

"I have declared a state of exception in the (coastal) provinces of Guayas, Manabi and Esmeraldas, effective from midnight tonight," he said in a speech broadcast by state media.

Ecuador declares prison emergency after 116 killed in riot

Ecuador's president has declared a state of emergency in the prison system following a battle among gang members in a coastal lockup that killed at least 116 people and injured 80 in what authorities say was the worst prison bloodbath ever in the country.

Officials said at least five of the dead were found to have been beheaded.

Over 115 Dead in Prison Violence in Ecuador

Ecuador President Guillermo Lasso has declared a state of emergency in the prison system, something which, among other things, allowed the government to send police and soldiers to prison.

The uprising started when a fight broke out between criminal gangs in a prison, which is located in the coastal town of Guayaquil, on Tuesday morning local time.

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